Automatic zigzag sewing machine



Fe 11. 1969 SHINICHI KAWAGUCHI 3,

AUTOMATIC ZIGZAG SEWING MACHINE Filed Feb. 1, 1966 Sheet of 7 Fig.

3 5 |o as 85 Fig. 2

24650 el 6Q Feb- 1 1969 SHINICHI KAWAGUCHI 3,426,711

AUTOMATIC ZIGZAG SEWING MACHINE Filed Feb. 1, 1966 Sheet 2 of 7 F 1969 SHINICHI KAWAGUCHI 3,426,711

AUTOMATIQ ZIGZAG SEWING MACHINE Sheet Filed Feb. 1, 1966 Feb- 11, 1969 SHINICHI KAWAGUCHI AUT OMATIC ZIGZAG SEWING MACHINE A of 7 Sheet Filed Feb. 1, 1966 b- 11, 1969 SHINICHI KAWAGUCHI 3,426,711

AUTOMATIC ZIGZAG SEWING MACHINE Filed Feb. 1, 1966 Sheet 5 of 7 1969 SHINICHI KAWAGUCHi 3,426,711

AUTOMATIC ZIGZAG SEWING MACHINE Filed Feb. 1. 1966 Sheet 6 of '2 Feb. 1 1969 SHINICHI KAWAGUCHI 3,425,711

AUTOMATIC ZIGZAG SEWING MACHINE Sheet Filed Feb. 1, 1966 a B 5 b 3,426,711 AUTOMATIC ZHGZAG SEWHNG MACHINE Shinichi Kawaguchi, Tokyo, Japan, assignor to Riccar Sewing Machine Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, a corporation Filed Feb. 1, 1966, Ser. No. 524,249 Claims priority, appiication Japan, Oct. 7, 1965,

40/ 61,002 U.S. Cl. 112ll58 int. Cl. Db 3/02, 3/04 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to an automatic zigzag sewing machine, wherein various pattern stitchings are made by changing automatically the amplitude of needle swing and the feed amount of cloth.

It has hitherto been required that the pattern stitchings of a zigzag sewing machine may produce various modifications. According to a known proposal in the formation of stitching patterns in a ZigZag sewing machine, it is known that the amplitude of needle swing is varied or the standard position of needle is varied to form patterns. In such cases, even though one wishes to express various stitching patterns, it tends to become monotonous in the shape of pattern because the shapes are repetitious. To give various changes to the stitching patterns, it has been proposed to form composite patterns, which are not obtainable merely by lateral movement of the needle, utilizing mechanically the action of cloth feeding, the action of amplitude of needle swing and the change of standard position of needle.

The object of the present invention is to provide a zigzag sewing machine, wherein defects involved in said proposal are eliminated by simple means. Other and more specific objects, features and advantages of the invention hereof will appear from the detailed description given below in conjunction with accompanying drawings which illustrate by way of example a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section of the arm of a sewing machine, showing a mechanism according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an explanatory drawing seen from above the arm;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a cam contactor for regulating the amplitude of needle swing;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a cam contactor for regulating cloth feeding;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory perspective view of a controller for varying the amplitude of needle swing;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a feed lever for darning;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory perspective view of a double arm lever and connecting crank for controlling the amplitude of needle swing;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the arm section, showing the interlocking engagement between the double arm lever for controlling of amplitude of needle swing and the locking lever;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory perspective view of the feed controlling plate and the feed controller;

States Patent 0 3,425,711 Patented Feb. 11, 1969 FIG. 10 is a front view of indicating knobs for varying the amplitude of needle swing and for initiating the hole darning operation, wherein A, B, C, D are explanatory figures showing relations between the indicating knobs for the hole darning operation and the darning stitch;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a sewing machine according to the present invention, showing the feed control mechanism, wherein the dial plate for the cloth feed is removed;

FIG. 12 is a diagram for an example of stitch patterns produced by combining the amplitude of needle swing and the feeding of cloth; and

FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing in assembled form the various sewing machine components shown in FIGS. 3-9.

Now, in the drawings, 1 is an arm of a sewing machine, 2 is a main shaft horizontally and rotatably supported within said arm, 3 is a worm fixed to the main shaft 2, 4 is a worm Wheel mounted on a cam shaft 5 which is arranged perpendicularly to the main shaft 2 and which meshes with the worm 3 to transmit the rotation of main shaft 2 to the cam shaft 5, and a cam inserting hole 98 is provided on the arm 1 (see FIGS. 1, 2 and 11).

The cam shaft 5 rotatably passes through cam shaft fitting members 6, 6 which are provided within the arm 1, and the worm wheel 4 is supported between the fitting members 6, 6 without clearance in axial direction. One end of the cam shaft 5 is elongated and provided with a pin 9 so as to hold a profile of a pattern cam, which is a combination of an amplitude pattern earn 7 and a feed pattern cam 8 for pattern stitching, at a suitable position for sewing action of the machine. The pattern cams 7, 8 engage the cam shaft 5 with a groove portion 10 which is provided on a fitting hole of the cams 7, 8, and are rotated by the rotation of cam shaft 5, as is generally known.

11 is an amplitude cam contactor which is provided with a contact point 12, a fitting hole 13 and a pin 14, as shown in FIG. 3. The contact point 12 is pressed against the amplitude pattern cam 7 under the action of a spring which is spanned between the arm 1 and the contact point 12 (FIG. 13).

15 is a feed cam contactor which is provided with a contact point 16, fitting holes 17, 18 and an elongated arm 19, on which a fitting hole 20 is defined for engaging the feed tension rod, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 13.

21 is a needle bar base block, having a fitting hole 22, an amplitude controller fitting shaft hole 23 and an arm member 24, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 13. On one end of said arm member 24, a standard point control screw 25 is locked by a lock nut 26 so as to be screwed in for optional controlling. Through the amplitude controller fitting hole 23, an amplitude controller fitting shaft 43 is rotatably passed and on one end of said shaft 43, a rocking member 42 having a forked portion 41 which engages with the pin 14 provided on the amplitude cam contactor 11. On an elongated end of said shaft 43, an amplitude controller 45, on which an arc-shaped groove 44 is provided for sliding a known amplitude controlling square piece 53 (FIG. 8), is fixed by a screw-nut 46 and is fixed without clearance in the :axial direction and yet easily rotatable, while supporting said base block 21 between said rocking member 42.

27 is a darning feed lever, having a fitting hole 28 and an arm, as shown in FIG. 6, in which a control screw 29 is screwed and locked by a lock-nut 30 controlled at a suitable position. And, on one end of said arm, a hanging hole 31 for a spring is provided.

32 is an amplitude control double armed lever (FIGS. 7 and 13), having a fitting hole 33, and on one end thereof, cam engaging control screws 34, 35 are screwed in and locked respectively by lock-nuts 36, 37 at suitable positions. On another end of said lever 32, a rocking rod connecting crank 38 is pivoted by a stepped screw 39 rotatably and yet without clearance. On said crank 38, a pivot hole 40 for a rocking rod is provided.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, holes 47, 48 for supporting a pivotal shaft are bored through side walls A, B of the arm 1 parallel to the cam shaft 5 and between said side walls A, B, said amplitude cam contactor 11 (FIG. 3), said feed cam contactor 15 (FIG. 4), said base block 21 (FIG. 5), said darning feed lever 27 (FIG. 6) and said amplitude control double armed lever 32 (FIG. 7) are all supported within the arm 1 without clearance in axial direction by a pivotal shaft 49 (FIGS. 1 and 13) which is rotatably passed through respective fitting holes 13, 17, 18, 22, 28 and 33, and said pivotal shaft is tightened up from the upper face of the arm 1 by a screw 50 (FIG. 1) so as not to come out.

As shown in FIG. 8, 51 is a rocking, rod, one end of which is pivoted on a needle bar support 52, as is generally known, and on another end of said rocking rod, an

arc-shaped square piece 53 is pivoted. The square piece 53 is inserted in an arc-shaped groove 44 provided on the amplitude controller 45 so as to slide easily therein. On the rocking rod 51, a hole 54 for pivotal screw for the connecting crank 38 is provided, and the crank 38 pivoted to the amplitude control double-armed lever (32) and the rocking rod 51 are link-connected by means of a stepped screw 55.

56 is a hollow cam shaft having a manual knob 57 for hole darning on its one end and passes through the side wall A of the arm 1 'rotatably and parallel to a pivotal shaft 49 (see FIGS. 1, 2 and 13). On said hollow cam shaft 56, a needle bar starting position changing cam 58, a feed changing cam 59 and an amplitude changing cam 60 are fixed, as shown in FIG. 1.

61 is an amplitude control cam shaft having a collar 62 and passes through the side Wall E of the arm 1 and the hollow cam shaft 56, and on its elongated end, a manual knob 63 for amplitude control is set by screw without clearance in the axial direction and yet fixed rotatably. Between the side wall B of the arm 1 and the end of the hollow cam shaft, an amplitude cont-r01 cam 64 is fixed on the amplitude control cam shaft 61, and the cam engaging control screw 34, fixed on the double-armed lever 32 (FIG. 7), is pressed against said cam 64 under the action of a tension spring 90, which is spanned between the arm 1 and the amplitude control double-armed lever 32. The standard point control screw end 25, fixed on the base block 21, is pressed against the needle starting point changing cam 58 under the action of a tension spring 91 (FIG. 5), and the end of the control screw 29, fixed on the hole darning feed lever 27 (FIG. 6), is pressed against the feed changing cam 59. The end of cam engaging control screw 35, fixed on the amplitude control doublearmed lever 32 (FIG. 7), is pressed against the amplitude changing cam 60 under the action of spring 90.

As shown in FIG. 10, hole darning indications 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 are marked on the front face of the hole darning manual knob 57, and when the cams 7, 8 are detached and known cams (not illustrated) for zigzag stitch are set and the machine is put in motion by setting said indications to a mark 89 in said order, then the respective cams fixed to the hollow shaft 56 are built up so as to obtain following stitchings, namely left sleeve stitching in the known straight or zigzag stitch as shown in FIG. A at the indication 1, bolt stitching as shown in FIG. 10B at the indication 2, right sleeve stitching as shown in FIG. 100 at the indication 3 and upper bolt stitching as shown in FIG. 10D at the indication 4.

As shown in FIG. 10, indications S-L are marked on the front [face of the amplitude manual knob 63, and when S is set to the mark 89, the pivotal point of arcshaped square piece 53 (FIG. 8) coincides with the axis of the amplitude controller fixing shaft within the arc-shaped groove, resulting in a straight stitch with null CPI amplitude. As the indication L is approached, amplitude of needle bar becomes larger and when L is reached, the amplitude control cam 64 is built up so as to make the amplitude maximum.

As shown in FIG. 9, 65 is a feed controller and is provided with a known square groove 66, a pivotal supporting hole 67, a spring hanging hole 68 and a tension rod connecting screw hole 69. In the square groove 66, a square piece 88, which is pivoted to the forked rod 87 (FIG. 1) as usual, will slide to control the amount of cloth feed.

70 is a feed control plate, of which one end is bent at right angle and is provided with a feed control screw 71, while at an upper projection 72 of the plate 70, a pin 73 which engages the upper face of feed controller 65 is provided.

74 is a pivotal supporting hole and 75 is a spring hanging hole. 76 is a feed controller fixing shaft, having a collar portion 77 and said fixing shaft 76 rotatably penetrates respectively the pivotal supporting hole 67 of the feed controller 65 and the pivotal supporting hole 74 of the feed control plate 70, and its elongated end is inserted in a feed controller fixing hole 78 of a fitting portion which is projecting within the arm 1, and said members are jointly held between the collar portion 77 and a fitting face 79 without any clearance in axial direction, thus being fixed within the arm 1 by a screw 80 so as not to come out.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 9 and 13, 81 is a feed tension rod, having a fitting hole 82 on its one end. A stepped screw 83 is passed through said fitting hole and is screwed in the screw hole 69 of the feed controller 65 to be pivoted, while a screw portion 84 on another end passes through the feed tension rod fitting hole 20, which is provided on the feed cam contactor 15 (FIG. 4). In the elongated screw portion 84, a control nut 85 having a spherical surface is screwed in and locked by another nut 86 (FIG. 13). By the rotation of the feed pattern cam 8, mechanical rocking impulses are transmitted to the feed controller 65 (FIG. 9) through the feed contactor 15 (FIG. 4), thus controlling at suitable positions to feed the cloth forward, stop and backward.

The feed control screw 71 (FIG. 11) passes through a slot 101 provided on side wall of the arm 1, and on one end of said feed control screw, a feed amount control nut 92 is screwed in. On the front face of slot 101, a dial plate 93 is fixed by screws 94, 95, as shown in FIG. 11.

96 (FIG. 9) is a feed controller tension spring, of which one end is secured in the spring hanging hole 68 of the feed controller 65 and another end thereof is secured on the arm 1, so that the feed direction is made to be always forward, under the action of spring 96 (FIG. 9). Accordingly, the feed control screw 71 (FIG. 11), which projects in front of the arm 1, tends to locate above the slot 101, but by tightening the feed control nut 92, the face portion of the nut 92 is pressed against the dial plate 93 and controls the rise of feed control screw 71 to decrease the feed amount of cloth, and at the tightened up position, the feed amount control screw 71 locates at an intermediate position to stop the feed of cloth.

When the nut 92 is made loose as an optional feed amount and is pushed down by a finger to contact with the dial plate 93, backward stitching is effected in the same amount of forward stitching.

97 (FIG. 9) is a feed changing tension spring for hole darning and is spanned between the spring hole 31 of hole darning feed lever 27 and the spring hole 75 of feed control plate 70, and when the knob 57 (FIG. 1) is turned to effect usual hole darning stitching, the feed changing cam 59 acts on the hole darning feed lever 27 (FIG. 6) and pulls up said spring 97 to change the feed controller 65 to the rear position against the tension of tension spring 96 of a pull-up feed controller 65 (FIG. 9).

The present invention is formed as mentioned above and the working thereof will be described in connection with the accompanying drawings, as follows.

When a composite pattern of amplitude and feed changing is stitched, cams 7, 8- (FIG. 1), which are so combined that the amplitude pattern cam 7 and the feed pattern cam will produce a predetermined pattern, are inserted on the cam shaft 5 and the machine is put in motion, the cams 7, 8 will be rotated under the action of wonm 3 and worm wheel 4, because the groove portion of cams 7, 8 is engaged with the pin 9. Now, in a sewing machine having a speed ratio of 18:1 between the main shaft 2 and the cam shaft 5, when a pattern cam, which is so determined in shape that a composite pattern of amplitude and feed is formed by 18 times stitchings as shown in FIG. 12, the rocking impulse of the amplitude pattern cam 7 will rock the amplitude controller 45 through the amplitude cam contactor 11 (FIGS. 3 and 13), which presses against the periphery of cam 7, and the rocking member 42 (FIG. 5) engaging with its pin 14. And, because the known needle bar support 52 is interlocked through the rocking rod 51 (FIG. 8), the amplitude pattern is produced by the profile of cam 7.

In a pattern shown in FIG. 12, indications of 1" to 18" are stitching positions to 'form this pattern and stitching positions in lateral direction of the pattern in the figure may be obtained by a series of indications.

As mentioned above, lateral movement of pattern stitching necessary for amplitude movement is produced by the impulse of the pattern cam 7, and at the position of indications S by manipulating the amplitude knob 63 (FIG. 10), the amplitude movement of the needle bar is stopped to become the known straight line stitching, and as the indication L is approached, the amplitude movement becomes larger and the indication L is reached, the maximum amplitude is obtained.

In short, by manipulating the amplitude knob 63, the amplitude controller 45 (FIG. 8) will control the rocking impulse of cam 7 to transmit the impulse to the needle bar support 52.

As the contact point 16- of the feed cam contactor (FIG. 4) is pressed against the feed pattern cam 8, so the profile of feed pattern cam will give the rocking motion to the feed cam contactor 15, thus the feed tension rod 81 (FIG. 9) will control the feed controller 65 interlocked with the same rod according to the profile of determined feed pattern cam 8 to displace in the state of forward motion, stop and backward motion. Direction and amount of cloth feeding will be also controlled through the known forked rod 87 (FIG. 1) and the feed device.

Now, in FIG. 12, when a series of stitching positions 1" to 18" are seen in longitudinal direction, 12" is a forward motion, 2"3"-4 is a backward motion, 4"5" is a forward motion, 5"6"7" is backward motion, 7"8" is a forward motion, 8"9" is stop, 9"l0" is a forward motion, 10"1 1" is stop, 11"12 is a forward motion, 12"-13"14" is backward motion, 1415" is a forward motion, 15"16" is a backward motion and 16"17"l8 is a forward motion. Thus said feed action is repeated by the rotation of sewing machine.

When the time of action of said amplitude pattern cam 7 and that of said feed pattern cam 8 coincide with the time of stitching action of the sewing machine, a composite pattern of amplitude and feed is obtained as shown in FIG. 12.

When the pattern is changed, optional pattern stitching may be effected by changing pattern cams.

When a straight line stitching is desired, it may be effected by detaching the pattern cams, and when a pattern of mere amplitude is desired, it may be obtained by inserting predetermined amplitude pattern cams.

When pattern stitchings are effected by manual operation, usual zigzag stitching cams are inserted and the amplitude manual knob 63 (FIG. 10) is optionally operated between the indications SL, so that the amplitude may be easily changed to obtain desired pattern stitchings.

When hole darning stitching is desired, usual zigzag stitching cams are inserted and the indication S of manual amplitude manual knob 63 is set to the make the amplitude 0, then the position and length of stitching are optionally determined by operating the knob 57 in order, so that usual hole darnings may be effected in the order of A, B, C, D in FIG. 10.

In this case, at a stitching position, where usual feed change is required, the feed changing cam 59 (FIG. 1)

is arranged to push up the hole darning feed lever 27 (FIG. 6), so that the feed control plate 70 (FIG. 9) is turned by the tension spring 97, which connects said control plate and said lever 27, and the feed controller, which is interlocked by the contact of pin 73, is also turned to be in the state for backward motion.

In short, the present invention is constructed in such a way that a base block, on which an amplitude controller is provided, a feed cam contactor, an amplitude cam contactor, a hole darning feed lever and an amplitude control double-armed lever are mounted merely on one pivotal shaft, and a feed control plate and hole darning feed lever are interlocked by a tension spring, and a feed controller and a feed cam contactor are interlocked by a tension rod, thus a composite pattern formed by amplitude and feed is produced by the profile of a pattern cam, so that various kinds of zigzag patterns may be obtained.

What is claimed is:

1. An automatic zigzag sewing machine for making various pattern stitchings by changing automatically the amplitude of needle swing and the feed amount of cloth comprising an amplitude cam contactor; a feed cam contactor having an elongated arm; a base block with an arm, a controller fitting shaft rotatably passing through said base block and provided with a rocking member having a forked portion which engages the amplitude cam contactor, an amplitude controller fixed to said fitting shaft; a hole darning feed lever, said darning feed lever having an arm portion; an amplitude control doublearmed lever having cam engaging means at one end and a rocking rod connecting crank pivotally connected to its opposite end; a pivotal shaft fixedly mounted to said machine and arranged to rotatably secure said amplitude cam contactor, said feed cam contactor, said base block, said hole darning feed lever and said amplitude control double-armed lever; a feed controller fitting portion provided by said machine; a feed controller arranged to be pivoted about said fitting portion; a feed control plate interconnected to said feed controller; a tension spring interconnected between said feed control plate and the arm portion of said darning feed lever; a feed tension rod pivoted on the said feed controller, said tension rod being interlockingly fitted to the elongated arm of said feed cam contactor; a first cam shaft rotatably mounted in said machine, a needle bar position changing cam mounted to be secured and turned by said first cam shaft and contacted by said base block arm, a feed changing cam mounted to be secured and turned by said first cam shaft and contacted by said hole darning feed lever, an amplitude changing cam mounted to be secured and turned by said first cam shaft and contacted by said amplitude control double arm lever, and an amplitude control cam provided on an amplitude control cam shaft within said machine, said amplitude cam adapted to be engaged by said double arm lever whereby pattern stitching is effected by coordinating the amplitude of needle bar swing and feed of cloth.

2. In an automatic sewing machine for making various composite pattern stitchings by simultaneously changing automatically both the amplitude of needle swing and the feed amount of cloth, the combination comprising first means for varying the swing amplitude of said needle, second means for varying the feed of cloth, dual pattern cam means mounted on said machine to move simultaneously during the operation of the machine and dual follower means mounted to ride on said dual cam means and interconnected with said first and second means for simultaneously varying the said first and second means in accordance with the pattern variations of said dual pattern cam means to produce said composite stitchings.

3. A sewing machine as in claim 2 wherein said dual pattern cam means are arranged to coincide with the switching action of said sewing machine.

4. A sewing machine as in claim 3 wherein said first and second means are individually adjustable to control the amount of swing and feed produced by said dual pattern cam means.

5. A sewing machine as in claim 4 wherein means are provided to synchronize the adjustments of said first and second means.

6. A sewing machine as in claim 5 wherein said first and second means include levers having movable fulcrums and further include adjustment cam means arranged to shift the position of said fulcrums to produce stitching patterns for hole daming.

7. A sewing machine as in claim 6 wherein said adjustment cam means includes adjustment cams mounted on a first common shaft for effecting synchronous adjustment of needle swing and material feed.

8. A sewing machine as in claim 7 wherein said dual follower means comprises separate follower arms pivotal- 1y mounted on a second common shaft to ride against and to pivot in response to surface variations in said dual pattern cam means.

9. A sewing machine as in claim 8 wherein said adjustment cam means includes a plurality of lever arms pivotally mounted on said second common shaft, said lever arms having follower portions which ride against said adjustment cams.

10. A sewing machine as in claim 9 wherein one of said lever arms comprises a base block carrying a rotatable shaft, said rotatable shaft having fixed thereon a forked arm, said shaft slidably engaging both one of said follower means and said first means of said machine.

11. A sewing machine as in claim 10 wherein another of said lever arms is connected at one end, via a connecting link, to a intermediate location of said first means.

12. A sewing machine as in claim 11 wherein a further of said lever arms is connected to a pivotal slide block of said second means to adjust the angle thereof said slide block being arranged in conjunction with said second means to control the feed thereof in accordance with the angle of said slide block.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,247,817 4/1966 Eguchi 112-158 RICHARD J. SCANLAN, JR., Primary Examiner. 

